Smitten
by crazytomboy78
Summary: Set during the episode 'Meltdown'. As they practice lines for their English project, Rhodey realizes something about his young genius friend that he hadn't seen before. Oneshot, Pepperony.


It was a sunny day atop the roof of the Tomorrow Academy, and Tony, Pepper, Rhodey and Gene were memorizing their lines for their big English project: performing a scene from a classic play. Or, more accurately, Rhodey, Pepper and Gene were memorizing their lines; Tony was attempting to, and failing miserably. For Rhodey and Gene, it was rather amusing to watch. Especially since they were both aware that Pepper was developing a crush on Tony and the fact that they got paired up together was quite amusing.

Rhodey had noticed Pepper's crush back when the two had first met, but he hadn't found any real signs that Tony was returning them; not yet, anyways. Then again, perhaps he wasn't looking hard enough.

So as Rhodey watched his friends fumble with the book in his hand, trying to find a scene that would be easy enough to memorize, he began to think. He'd never seen his friend so...upbeat, happy, and carefree (relatively). Since his dad had died, Rhodey didn't expect his friend to be so happy; in fact, he expected the young genius to be gloomy, depressed, smiling a rarity on him. But as he watched his friends awkwardly work their way around a romantic scene from Hamlet that Tony had obliviously chosen (which made the sight that much more amusing to see), Rhodey realized something. He noticed that Tony's eyes were lit up as he was talking to Pepper, and that he was smiling as he spoke, even if the scene he had chosen was a romantic one, which would usually be awkward. He always seemed to be at his happiest when she was around.

Then it was all clear to him. Why had he told her his secret identity as Iron Man? Why did he always smile around her? How was he so happy around her? The answer was simple.

He was in love with her.

_Of course, duh, idiot! It's so obvious. Of course he does. _

Rhodey watched with a smirk as Tony chuckled when Pepper responded to his compliment. Now the only question was whether or not Tony realized his feelings for the fiery redhead or not. Rhodey knew how oblivious the boy could be; especially when it came to emotions. He knew that expressing, or even realizing the presence of emotions was something Tony rarely, if not never, did.

Pepper, on the other hand, seemed to be fighting the urge to express them in her fullest capacity. The girl's emotions seemed to be bypassing those of a fangirl **(A/N: trust me, that's not an insult. You should know how much I fangirl all over this show.)**, and had become more out of knowing him better. She had become smitten with him a long time ago, Rhodey could tell by the way she acted around him. But the way he could tell that Tony was smitten with her was by the fact that Rhodey had never seen Tony act the way he did around Pepper before. Tony wasn't quick to trust people with his secrets, especially since he'd lost so many people in his life, but when it came to Pepper, there wasn't anyone he seemed to trust more (except himself, of course). Rhodey had even been fairly surprised when Tony had decided to tell Pepper his secret identity, and when he revealed that he'd been trying to tell her all along. _Especially_ since he hadn't really known her long enough to know he could trust her.

But, at the same time, Rhodey wasn't surprised. Looking back, it wasn't surprising that Tony was so quick to trust her, because for once in his life, he's letting his heart do the talking. It was obvious all along, he just hadn't been looking for it. Tony was smitten with Pepper just as much as she was with him, and they both knew he's never felt that way before. Now that he does, there's nothing he wouldn't do for her.

_Smitten, indeed._

…**I think this was kinda stupid…I dunno. I got the idea out of nowhere yesterday and decided to do something with it…oh well. All things considered, it wasn't my worst. Besides, I haven't written any IM:AA in a while, so I figured I'd do something to prove I'm not dead…So review?**


End file.
